But beyond that, I’ve really got to question the logic behind supporting the Alberta Tar Sands and the environmental destruction it brings, but not supporting the method in which to bring that oil to market to sell. I’ve also got to question why Northern BC’s environmentalists are worthy for Liberal support while Alberta’s environmentalists aren’t.

It’s these inconsistencies that make me wonder if the federal Liberal support of a tanker ban only comes from a desire to politically benefit from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But despite the reasons, supporting a ban on oil tankers is the right thing to do, considering the negative effect on Northern BC if an oil spill happens.

However, for those progressives living in Northern BC with major concerns about oil tankers and the proposed Enbridge Pipeline, the only realistic choice is the New Democrats, who have supported an oil tanker ban for quite a while. After all out of the 3 Northern BC ridings, the New Democrats control 1 and placed 2nd in the other2. The Liberals on the other hand, have placed a very distant 3rd in 2 ridings and placed 4th behind the Greens in 1 (in my riding Prince George—Peace River.)

The problem now for the BC Conservatives is that the genie is out of the bottle and not willing to go back in. Let’s ignore the personal insults for a minute; as an Independent MLA, would one join a political party that seems to have no handle at all on its communications? Especially considering that, in this modern world, good communications is essential in achieving one’s agenda.

This should have been a simple task for the BC Conservatives: talk about how the Lekstrom resignation means that the BC Liberals can no longer be an effective political voice of the right in BC while sending feelers to Lekstrom to determine if joining the party is in the cards. The fact that they couldn’t do it right shows that they aren’t ready to enter the Legislature, let alone become official opposition or government.

Even more interesting: any debate that the HST was something that has planned by the BC Liberals before the May 2009 Election can be put to rest. According to Lekstrom:

“[A]s a member of Caucus and Cabinet, I can confirm that the HST was not contemplated before the May 2009 election.”

So, what is going to happen now? Watch for the BC Liberals to start painting Lekstrom as a maverick, opponents of the BC Liberals to start saying that this is proof that the BC Liberals are collapsing, and anti-HST local Peace River South Lekstrom opponents to point out that Lekstrom did actually vote in favour of the HST.

After all, over the past few years, the Liberals have proven themselves to be arrogant, corrupt, internally divided, and untrustworthy. Why would New Democrats want to merge with such an entity?

Sure, there is always room for a coalition agreement after an election for the purposes of better serving Canadians, making Parliament work, and enacting parts of a New Democrat agenda, but anything beyond that, such as some agreement to not run New Democrat candidates in certain ridings or a merger should be very much out of the question.